The End of Days
by WolfOfTheta
Summary: Takes place four months after the events of "Returned Foe". Silver and Kate are the two newest members of the Freedom Fighters, and are adjusting well. But what will happen when Eggman emerges out of the shadows with an old weapon and a whole new lust for power? Enjoy :D
1. Prologue

**Okay! Story No.3!** **Now, just a heads up:** **This was uploaded from my phone, so it might be...messed up. A lot. So if it is I greatly apologise.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate. The rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Enjoy :)**

"Why can't you just accept that he's sulking?"

"Nine months! No one can sulk for nine months! It's not physically _possible_!"

Sonic rolled his eyes at Kate's complaints. Ever since the events in White Acropolis, Eggman had been strangely quiet. Not even news of Mephiles or the two new Freedom Fighters had brought him out. So, Sonic and Kate had been sent out to his base in Metropolis to find out what he was up to. Sonic had been all for it. Kate...not so much.

Sonic heard Kate chuckle down the headsets that they were both wearing.

"He lost one of his most prized machines," she told him "who wouldn't sulk?"

Sonic shrugged in consideration, peering around a corner and avoiding one of the cameras.

"Not to mention losing his pet projects," he smirked, knowing what Kate's reaction would be. Deeming the area to be clear, he darted round the corner to avoid the camera.

He heard Kate's growl from the other end, which was exactly the reaction he expected.

"That better not be me you're talking about, hedgehog," she replied bitterly.

Sonic opened his mouth to reply, but shut it as he noticed a door with a large "KEEP OUT" sign on it and a number pad next to it. However, he couldn't get too close, as the door had at least four cameras surrounding.

"Hey Kate?"

"Yes?"

Sonic ducked out of sight as one of the cameras shifted a little.

"Door saying keep out and surrounded by cameras," he muttered "worth a look?"

Kate snorted.

"Well, obviously. Why haven't you gone in?"

Sonic grumbled as he watched the cameras carefully.

"There's a code," he whispered "I don't know it,"

Kate sighed down the headset.

"Right. I'll be there in a sec,"

Sonic slumped back against the metal wall to wait. However, he didn't have to wait for long because, true to her word, the white and cyan wolf flashed next to him only a few seconds later. After a quick glance at the cameras, she frowned and held up her hand. The cameras became encased in a blue-green glow, and they stopped moving. She waved Sonic towards the number pad.

"The code is one-four-seven-nine, hurry up!" she hissed. Sonic darted forward and punched in the numbers. He raised her brow at her, impressed, as the door opened.

"How'd you know that?" he asked curiously as they both dashed inside, closing the door behind them. Kate removed her headset as she spoke.

"Eggman sets all his pin numbers to the same thing," she said indifferently, making Sonic scowl.

"What?" he snapped, making her stop "you knew that? Sally and I came here last week, but we got nowhere because we didn't know the codes!"

Kate's brow furrowed, and she suppressed a smirk and a laugh.

"Did I not tell you?" she sniggered "oops..."

There were only a few Egg Pawns standing guard in the room they were in, but these were took out quickly. The two Freedom Fighters did a quick check around the rest of the room before they began looking at all of the blueprints and computer screens in the room.

The blueprints all seemed to be for heavy machinery, engine parts and new badniks, but nothing of interest. A certain blueprint caught Sonic's eye, he laughed.

"What is it?" Kate said, looking over her shoulder. Sonic held up the blueprint with a mischevious grin on his muzzle.

"Remember when this badnik threw you into a pile of leaves in Windy Hill?"

Kate's nose scrunched up and her expression turned sour.

"It was just a pile of leaves..." she mumbled darkly. Sonic replaced the blueprint on the work bench and moved on.

"Yeah, but wasn't it filled with fire ants?" he replied, barely holding in his laughter. Kate's ears flattened against her head and she scowled at the memory.

"Why do you keep bringing that up? It was three weeks ago. It can't be that funny, surely?" she murmured.

"You were trying to chase your tail, Kate," the blue hedgehog sniggered.

At his words, Kate's shoulders raised as she held up her hands slightly in defence.

"They hurt!" she exclaimed, fiddling with her tail absent-mindedly "I wanted them gone..."

She trailed off with a slight shiver before dropping the subject.

Five minutes of shifting through blueprints went by, but they found nothing of great interest.

That is, however, until Sonic accidentally triggered a large computer screen to spark into life, startling the both of them. On the screen, there was an image of a giant metal egg and descriptions of something that was supposedly going to be inside of the egg.

They both approached the screen, carefully studying the contents. Kate frowned in confusion. Sonic, however, widened his eyes in disbelief.

"He can't be..." he said vaguely, making Kate stare at him.

"What?" she asked desperately "what is it, Sonic?"

Sonic didn't look away from the screen.

"He's rebuilding the Death Egg,"

Suddenly, a new voice rang out in the room they were in.

"Incorrect, rodent, I _have_ built the Death Egg," it said proudly "well, Death Egg Mark 3, to be more precise,"

They whipped around to see none other than Dr.Eggman stood before them a group of Egg Pawns as his guard and his glasses glinting from the light of the computer. He strided past them, gesturing to the screen.

"What do you think of the weapon inside of it? It's an old favourite of mine," after a moment staring at the screen, his head snapped back towards Sonic "do you recognise it, Sonic?"

He finished with a superior look at Sonic, who looked back towards the screen. His eyes widened after a moment of staring, and he shook his head at Eggman in disbelief.

"You can't be serious..." he breathed.

Eggman cackled loudly, and waved over the pack of robots that accompanied him.

"Oh but I am," he leant down in a mocking way, grinning maliciously "and I assure you, rodent, this time, it will be the end of days,"

He straigtened up, andmiring the fear he had implemented within the two Freedom Fighters. Sonic was in total dismay, and Kate looked incredibly frightened, despite having little to no idea of what was going on. However, she managed to steel herself and grab hold of Sonic's forearm.

"We'll see about that," she snarled.

Then, before Eggman could stop them, they had disappeared in a flash of white light, back to Freedom HQ.

 **Well there you have it. Once again, sorry if it messed up. Annoyingly it's quicker to upload like this but it messes up everything in the process.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed :)**

 **RR!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	2. When I die

**Alright! Sorry about the wait. I have horrific writer's block despite me planning this out :D**

 **Disclaimer: I own Kate, nothing else. The others belong to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

Freedom Fighter HQ*

No one was in the headquarters, and all was quiet. The only noise came from the monitor as Nicole performed routine checks on her systems.

All was silent, that is, until there was a bright flash in the room, and Sonic and Kate appeared in the HQ. As soon as they had both landed properly, Kate turned to face Sonic. However, when she opened her mouth to speak, Sonic shushed her, and turned to the monitor.

"Yo, Nicole? You there?"

He was answered with an abrupt stop to the buzzing sound, and Nicole replied.

"Always here, Sonic. How can I help?"

Sonic slumped down on the sofa in a carefree manner, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Could you tell Sal' and the others to come here?"

"Of course, Sonic," Nicole said. There was then a short buzz as she supposedly left the monitor to go elsewhere in Mobotropolis.

After a minute or two, Kate took a seat next to her blue companion.

"So what's he up to?"

Sonic shrugged as he propped one leg up on the sofa.

"Meh…it's no biggie. It's just…we managed to stop it last time…but…"

He trailed off, breathing deeply. He shook his head slightly before clearing his throat and dropping the subject.

"Doesn't matter,"

Kate frowned in confusion, but didn't have time to question it as the door the HQ opened, revealing a very puzzled Sally accompanied by Antoine, Bunnie and Tails. Sally looked particularly disgruntled.

"I hope you called us over for a good reason, Sonic," she grumbled. Sonic sniffed and his brow furrowed.

"Why else would I ask Nicole to call you?" he replied, a slight smirk reaching his lips "just to see you?"

Sally sighed exasperatedly.

"Knowing you, probably…"

Kate, meanwhile, rolled her eyes and looked at the small party who had followed Sally in, and noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Silver?" she asked, sounding generally uninterested. She then looked up at Bunnie as the rabbot took a seat on the armrest next to Kate.

"He's on the line to the Prof. Apparently some friend of 'is called Gold just came back to the city," she explained, making Kate nod in understanding.

A short hiss signified Nicole's holographic form joining the other Freedom Fighters, and everyone turned to Sonic expectantly.

"Alright," he began "so, Robuttnik is rebuilding the Death Egg and the Egg Fleet, and…" he paused, and his eyes flicked towards Sally briefly "…he's rebuilt the World Roboticizer,"

There was a group intake of breath at his words, and Sally stared at the floor. Only Kate didn't look as concerned as the others.

"World Roboticizer…" Kate muttered "guessing that does exactly what it says on the tin?"

Sonic nodded and gave a thumbs up at her.

"Got it in one," he scratched behind his ear "it's not a huge problem, it's just...difficult to destroy," he shot Sally a look as the brown chipmunk lifted her head "and you not going the same as last time,"

There was profound silence at the unusual seriousness and conviction in Sonic's tone. After an awkward pause before Sally, for some reason, nodded in confirmation.

"It won't happen again," she told him firmly "and that means we have to discuss exactly how to get rid of it,"

That statement, of course, started off a large debate of how best to deal with the problem. Kate stayed out of the conversation, and caught Bunnie's attention so she could whisper to her.

"What was he on about?" she asked, noting Bunnie's downcast expression. Bunnie leant down a little closer.

"The last time we 'ad one of these to deal with, Sal' made the cannon fire inversely, and she was…" she paused, struggling to cope with the memory "…she was turned into a robot slave,"

Kate widened her eyes as Bunnie finished, and bit her lip before frowning.

"Then how-?"

"Genesis Wave. Completely altered our timelines, but we can remember it,"

Bunnie and Kate were jolted out of their conversation as Sally jutted in. The Princess looked away again.

"I still remember it…"

Once again, there was a very awkward silence. Sonic opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. He took a deep, shaky breath, before exhaling and clapping his hands together once.

"Well! No point focusing on what happened. We need to figure out what we're doing right here, right now,"

Tails, who had been lost in thought for a few minutes, piped up.

"That couldn't happen again anyway. Logically, Eggman, would have made sure that there will be protocols making sure that it couldn't fire out the back end," he reasoned, earning several nods of agreement "we'd have to shut it down,"

Kate raised her brow.

"Yeah, he'll probably have firewalls or something to stop us doing that," she replied glumly.

Nicole spoke, running a hand through her hair thoughtfully.

"I could probably shut down the Robotiziser," she said "but it would take me a while to get through any defences, and I wouldn't be able to do it in time…" she stopped as an idea reached her, and she smiled "however, I believe the person who could do it in time, is sat in this very room,"

Everyone looked up at the holo-lynx's words, before most gazed at Tails, who held up his hands defensively and shook his head.

"I have no idea how his coding works!" he exclaimed "I'm still trying to figure it out…"

A minute or so passed, before Nicole grew annoyed and gave a sharp nod towards the white and cyan wolf sat next to Sonic. Heads switched from Tails to Kate almost immediately. Kate, looked around at the staring faces before laughing and shaking her head.

"Oh, no you don't," she growled, standing up "why's does it have to be me? Find someone else!"

Sonic desperately tried to reason with her.

"You've had three years to learn his machines!"

Kate's ears flattened.

"You've had much longer than that as a Freedom Fighter!" she retorted.

Antoine, who had been listening to the others quietly, chuckled.

"To be fair, we do not get a lot of time in ze Doctor's bases," he argued.

Kate unfortunately had no argument for that, and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before crossing her arms like a sulking child. Her face scrunched up bitterly before she finally nodded in agreement.

"Fine, fine. But you're all coming to keep the robots away from me!" she slumped back down, arms crossed and grumbling softly "if I'm going to suffer you're going to suffer with me…"

There were a few small cheers, and Kate rolled her eyes with a scowl on her face.

two hours later*

A very vague plan of attack had been devised after an hour and a half of planning, half an hour of filling in Silver on what they had found out and the piecing together of logic, predictions and facts. Sonic had read on the information that the Egg Fleet would approach Mobotropolis, presumably so Eggman could boast. They would all enter the Death Egg, keeping any defences preoccupied so Kate could get to the World Robotiziser and disable the firewalls, allowing Nicole to shut down the machine.

After their mediocre plan had been confirmed, they all began to filter out. That is, however, all except Kate.

The ivory wolf had only participated a few times in the planning, and had spent the rest of the time in very deep thought. Everyone knew of the responsibilities she had as the one clearing the way for Nicole to shut down the machine, so no one was overly concerned about her silence. The only one who seemed mildly worried was Silver. As he passed the back of the sofa to leave, he tapped Kate on the shoulder.

Kate started, and Silver quickly apologised for startling her before expressing his concerns.

"Are you alright?" he asked "you were spaced out for most of that,"

In response, Kate yawned and gave him a tired smile.

"Yep. I'm just trying to figure out how exactly I'll be doing this,"

Silver cocked his head to one side slightly, his eyes squinting and a small frown reaching his expression. After a moment of consideration, he smiled in content and made the rest of the way towards the door. However, just before he left, he turned back.

"You coming?"

Kate grunted as she stretched her legs and waved him on.

"Yeah, just let me run over some things with Nicole,"

A moment passed before Silver's head bowed once and he left the HQ. When he was gone, Kate looked at Nicole with an almost melancholy look in her eye. The hologram stared back at her, confused.

Kate broke the stare at she rose to her feet, and rubbed a hand against her forehead. Her mood had changed from her seemingly calm and happy demeanor to one of emptiness. Suppressing a shiver, she looked up again to a very puzzled Nicole.

"Could you do be a favour?" she asked monotonously. Nicole nodded.

"Of course, Kate. What is it?" the A.I asked politely, suspicious of Kate's suddenly downcast mood.

"I need you to record a message for me to show to the others. It won't take long," the wolf said, not looking Nicole in the eye.

The lynx was surprised at this, not sure why this was a reason for Kate's almost stressful state.

"Erm…okay. What is-?"

Kate held up a hand to stop her, eyeing Nicole sternly.

"But I need you to promise me something,"

Kate's ears had now drooped. Nicole only nodded, now very worried about her fellow Freedom Fighter. Seeing Nicole's nod, Kate continued.

"You mustn't tell anyone about this. I mean it. Hide it from everyone. Even Sally. And, above all else, no matter what happens…."

She paused, looking around briefly as though to make sure no one was listening, and her voice lowered to a whisper.

"You can only show them this message when I die,"

 **Ohhhhh here we go XD**

 **Alright, just a quick message to the Void Reader, a guest who has been reviewing:**

 **Thanks for the reviews! Now, I've seen them on my emails, but I can't actually see them on my fics for some reason. Also, I can't exactly answer your questions. Sorry to be a pain but would you be able to make an actual account so I can PM you? Thanks.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	3. A Quarrel Between Siblings

**Okay I had no clue what I was doing with this but here you are (*laughs nervously*)**

 **Disclaimer: I own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

2 days later*

It was a relatively quiet morning in Mobotropolis, and there weren't many people about. This was a typical Saturday morning, something Sonic particularly enjoyed as he could easily speed through Mobotropolis without worrying about accidentally smashing into them.

However, his run was interrupted when he heard loud, angry shouts coming from the top of the large tree, where Kate was living. He grinded to a halt at the foot of the stairs, trying to distinguish who was actually yelling.

Another two minutes of shouting went by, and the few people that were out and about had gathered at the bottom of the stairs. Sonic sighed and waved them on, telling them that he'll sort it out before making his way up the stairs.

As he neared the top, he could make out one of the voices. Judging by the accent, Kate was definitely one of the shouters. But who was she arguing with?

When he reached the door, the second voice became more clear, and Sonic was able to identify it as Shadow. Not believing it, he pressed his ear against the door, making sure he was right.

Yes, that was definitely Shadow. It was odd, as Sonic had never heard the dark hedgehog lose his temper like this, especially with someone who was supposedly very close to him. Sonic listened carefully so he could make out what they were saying.

"I can't believe that's what you think! I've accepted it, so why can't you?"

That was Kate. Her voice sounded as though she was fighting back tears and there was a fire in her tone that Sonic had heard very few times.

Shadow responded a second later, equally enraged.

"You're wasting your time, Kate! I stand by what I said, and I will not change my mind!"

There was a long, tense pause at this. Sonic could almost feel Kate's hurt from outside the door. He heard her sigh deeply before she replied, her voice now normal volume, but shaking with anger.

"If that's the case, then get out,"

More silence. Clearly Shadow was dumbstruck by her dismissal. However, moments later, Kate began to shout again, this time more upset.

"I said get out! If that's what you think, then why are you here?" she snarled at Shadow " _Now get out before I make you_!"

There was no reply from Shadow, only a short flash of light that signalled that he had teleported from Kate's home back to G.U.N. Sonic straightened up, trying to piece together what he had heard. Shadow had clearly said something truly horrible and offensive to Kate to get her upset like that. But what could he had said? And why?

He waited another five minutes or so to let Kate calm down a little before gently knocking on the door. There was no answer from the inside. Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but Kate's quiet answer from inside stopped him.

"Who is it?" she called.

"It's me," the blue hedgehog replied, noting the sadness in Kate's voice.

A few seconds went by before the door opened with a quiet click. Sonic entered, to find Kate looking at him as if nothing had happened. She smiled.

"What's up?" she asked matter of factly. Sonic gestured behind her.

"Can I come talk to you for a while?"

Kate nodded and invited him inside before shutting to door. They both made their way to the table and sat down on either side of it. Before Kate could question Sonic, the blue hedgehog had already brought up the argument between the two.

Kate widened her eyes as Sonic introduced the subject, and then frowned.

"Ah. You heard that, huh?"

Sonic chuckled and leant back.

"Kate, everyone out in Mobotropolis heard you two," he stated, before turning serious "what were you arguing about?"

Kate looked away, her fist clenching on the table. After a few seconds, she calmed down and sighed deeply.

"Well...over the last few weeks Shadow had been…weird with me…"

She sniffed and scratched behind her ear.

"I asked him about it, and he told me about something that happened on a Space Colony ARK," she paused to rub her forehead "now…I understood that fine, but then he said he would never accept the fact that we're siblings, and that he doesn't care about me,"

Sonic nodded in realisation before Kate continued.

"I got angry, obviously, and so did he. I'm not sure he really considered how that would make me feel…"

She trailed off, staring at the table. Sonic sat back and folded his arms.

"To be fair, Kate, Shadow lost quite a few people close to him on that ARK," he reasoned. Kate snorted, and Sonic sensed her anger rising again.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"I've lost people close to me too, Sonic. If I can move on then so can he!"

It was obvious to Sonic that Kate didn't intend to say that, because almost immediately after those words had left her mouth, her eyes shone with alarm. Sonic was instantly curious, as it was evidently something that he wasn't supposed to know. His expression softened as he leant further across the table, his hands clasped in front of him.

"Wait, what do you-?"

Kate breathed out shakily, and cleared her throat dismissively.

"I left my family when I was younger," she said quickly "having a few regrets now…"

She trailed off and shivered. Sonic squinted his eyes, not for second believing her. However, if Kate was so intent on hiding it, he best not pry.

Suddenly, Kate growled viciously, her anger suddenly returning.

"But he's treating me like I don't even exist! Do you have any idea what that feels like?"

She moved her hands away from her face, and Sonic froze.

Her eyes. It was the same as before. Her royal blue eyes had switched to the vivid orange. It lasted longer this time, quite a few seconds. In which time Sonic managed to become panicked.

He stood up, angrily pointing at her eyes, making Kate jump out of her fur. She stared up at him, her fury at Shadow quickly replaced by surprise at Sonic's sudden movement.

"Right! I'm sorry! What is that?!" he snapped, stepping back a little. Kate stood up too, completely perplexed.

"What?" questioned Kate "what?!"

Sonic laughed sarcastically as if it was obvious.

"Your eyes, Kate! Your eyes! I thought it was my eyes messing up the first time, but this lasted longer! What is that?"

Kate was still completely oblivious.

"What about my eyes?" she asked, letting out a laugh of confusion.

Sonic's calmed himself down a bit, not wanting to start another argument with the wolf.

" _Your eyes changed colour, Kate_ ,"

At that, Kate immediately blinked and shook her head, and her eyes switched back to royal blue. She stared at Sonic, absolutely horrified.

"The "first time"?" she hissed, sitting down "what do you mean? It's happened _before_? Why didn't you tell me?"

Sonic sat back down, semi-relieved that Kate knew what the colour change was.

"I thought I was imagining things, but that was longer, Kate, your eyes switched from blue to-"

"-orange," Kate finished with a sigh "I was really hoping that wouldn't happen…"

Sonic perked up in curiosity.

"You know what it is, then?"

Kate scrunched up her nose in annoyance as she sensed Sonic's need for an explanation.

"It's the barrier breaking down…" she murmured.

"Barrier?" repeated Sonic "what barrier?"

Kate groaned, obviously not in the mood for this conversation.

"The barrier between the active part of my brain and…" she sighed "…the part which controls my father's genetics…"

"Yeah…not understanding you at all, Kate," Sonic replied. Kate's brow furrowed as she tried to think of a decent explanation.

"The minds of demigods work differently to yours…we…we have a separate part of our head that controls the...er…"

She growled as she lost whatever explanation she had come up with, and she tapped her finger on the table impatiently. After a couple of minutes, she sat back up straight again for another attempt.

"Okay...picture a reservoir, a dam, and an empty plain below it, alright?"

Sonic nodded, creating the picture in his head.

"Right," Kate continued, sounding relatively bored "the reservoir is all the signals in my head. The dam is a wall of inactive neurons, and the plain is the part of my head that controls my…God genetics…" she finished awkwardly.

She leant forward, her elbow on the table and her hand propping up her head.

"Now, if there was a huge downpour increasing the pressure against the dam what could happen?"

Sonic thought for a moment before answering.

"Could it er…leak?"

Kate smiled and nodded.

"Exactly. A huge emotional surge means there's more signals hitting the wall, and it starts to let signals through," she paused "the eye colour changes you see are the leaks in the dam,"

Sonic raised his brow at Kate's explanation, and then his heart lifted as he realised something.

"Wait! Does that mean if the dam breaks down completely, you could-?"

Kate held up a hand to stop him before nodding in confirmation.

"I would be able to transform into my demigod form, yes," she frowned "but that needs a huge emotional surge, like anger or upset, and I'm not exactly fond of the idea,"

She stopped, and Sonic was able to understand why Kate was never eager to discuss her heritage or to even attempt to use it. He thought back to the first time he had seen the colour change.

"But the first time…were you upset then?" he asked, slightly worried about the answer.

Kate chucked and smiled, and Sonic was relieved to see her mood lift slightly.

"No! No…I was happy…very happy. That still counts as an emotional surge…no where near as affective as the others…" she sighed deeply "listen, Sonic. It's been a weird day and it's not even noon. Could we leave it there?"

Sonic nodded, smiling kindly and standing up.

He said nothing as he approached the door. When his hand was resting on the handle, he turned back, concerned about his friend.

"Kate, I know you've got a lot of pressure on you with this whole robotisizer business…so if there's anything you need to talk about, we're all here, you can tell us anything, OK?"

Kate winked and nodded once to tell Sonic she understood, and the blue hedgehog left, content that he had improved Kate's mood, even if it was only temporary.

However, when he had gone, the smile on Kate's face disappeared in an instant, and she shivered. When she muttered to herself, she sounded bitter.

"If only that was true for everything…"

 **Right, yeah...a lot going on and I'm sorry if it's so boring. Hopefully things will get better. This isn't a story with a lot of...excitement (advertisment 100)...or maybe it will be? I don't know.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed :D**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	4. A Positive Outlook

***Sighs***

 **OK here's the next chapter. It's very short and why it took me so long to write I don't know.**

 **Disclaimer: Sonic and Co. belong to Sonic Team @SEGA. I only own Kate.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

 **Another day later, 22:09** *

Kate shifted so she was more comfortable on the tree branch. She was lying face up on the rough wood, her boots resting at the beginning of a fork. She had been lying like this for at least and hour now, staring at the glittering night sky through a large gap in the greenery above. She grunted and moved again, unable to relax.

Sleep was out of the question now, as earlier that day Kate had heard a distant rumbling, and she had realised that it was engines starting up, and that the Egg Fleet was on its way to Mobotropolis. Annoyingly, she had realised this just before going to sleep, and the thought had scared her awake, which was why she was now on the branch just above her house.

She had a horrible feeling inside of her. One that had been there ever since she had been given the responsibility of shutting down the World Robotiziser. What if something went wrong? Her stomach churned at the thought, and she had constantly been feeling sick with anticipation. Despite this, she couldn't get it out of her head.

Luckily, this time, familiar voices from the base of the tree snapped her out of her thoughts. Carefully changing position, she peered over the branch to look down below, and she smiled.

It was Bunnie who had called up to her, with Antoine by her side. They must've been out for a late night walk.

Kate opened her mouth to respond, but stopped, not wanting to annoy any other residents in the tree with her shouting. She gestured to couple to join her on the branch. She couldn't see their response, but they must have realised what she was getting at, as Bunnie had begun to make her way up the stairs, with Antoine tailing her.

Kate watched them as they arrived to the small balcony just outside her front door, and she idly wondered how they would get to her up on the branch. However, her question was answered when the Rabbot began to skillfully scale the thick trunk of the tree, with Antoine (almost reluctantly) following behind her.

It wasn't long before Bunnie had placed her foot on the beginning of the large branch and was hoisting herself up on it. Antoine was still some way behind her, clearly not as fond of climbing trees as his wife was.

Kate sat up again, and Bunnie shuffled over to her before looking up through the gap above them.

"So," she said at last "what's got ya up so late?"

Kate shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep," she said vaguely "plus, it's a nice view,"

Bunnie chuckled at her answer, and Kate raised her brow.

"Ah, we all know that ain't the reason, Kate, you've been actin' weird with us ever since that Robotisizer business,"

Kate opened her mouth to reply, but another voice beat her to it, and they both looked over.

It was Antoine. He had finally caught up, and was shakily trying to follow Bunnie's path onto the branch.

" _O-oui_ …you have…c-certainly been d-d-drifting away from us, K-Kate…" he looked down and gulped " _oh mon dieu_ …"

Bunnie smiled as her metal arm extended to scoop Antoine on to the branch. The coyote still trembled with fear, trying his best not to look down.

The ivory wolf looked around the city below, and sighed deeply.

"I've just been worried," she replied honestly "what if something goes wrong? I can't stop thinking about it…"

She shivered as the feeling of nausea returned, pressing a hand against her forehead.

"This whole thing rests on me being able to delay the timer long enough to get rid of the firewalls," she explained "I don't know if I'll be able to do it..."

Antoine tore his gaze from the distant ground to look at his fellow Freedom Fighter.

"Well, if you keep thinking zat, eet is more likely to happen, non? You will be more likely to panic and get eet wrong," he said earnestly, making Kate smile.

"I guess so..." she uttered, not fully convinced. Bunnie nudged Kate with her shoulder.

"Ah, you'll be fine. You've got plenty o' time to prepare, anyhow," she said brightly.

Kate's smile faded into a grimace.

"If only that was so," she said grimly, staring off into the distance, past the walls of the city.

At that moment, a low rumble shot through the three sat on the bench. Kate froze. It was the same noise as earlier that day, though a bit louder this time. She bit her lip, shaking her head glumly.

"That's the Egg Fleet," she told them "it'll be here by tomorrow,"

There was an awkward pause, and Kate went back to her position on the branch so she was facing the sky again. Bunnie and Antoine shared a worried glance before Antoine tried to encourage Kate again.

"Listen, _mon amie_ , nothing will go wrong, as long as you believe zat it won't,"

His words caused Kate to let out a relatively forced smile. After a moment or so, however, it seemed more genuine.

"Thank you, Antoine," she said quietly, still not looking at either of them. A minute or so passed, before she added "if you two wouldn't mind, I'll try and get some sleep, soon. I'll be seeing you tomorrow, okay?"

Sensing her need to be alone again, Bunnie nodded, gesturing to Antoine to leave. Her husband froze to the spot, staring at the trunk in apparent distaste. Bunnie noticed, and activated the boosters on her metal feet.

"Don' worry, Sugah-'Twan, we ain't going down the same way we came up,"

Once again, her metal arm snaked around Antoine, lifting him up off the branch. Bunnie then gave a quick wave goodbye to Kate before launching off the branch and slowly making their descent off the tree.

After a final wave goodbye, the couple left, hand in hand.

Instead of going inside to finally go to sleep, Kate remained in her increasingly uncomfortable spot until she hastily sat up, having a long look around Mobotropolis. Her eyes travelled past Sonic's home, and then past Silver's, Tails' workshop, and then she started past the wall towards where the HQ was, thinking about her plans.

Kate had told no one but Nicole about her backup idea, as it was incredibly risky, even more so then her actual plan.

There were two ways it could go: the way she wanted, and hoped, it would go, or the alternative, which would be a complete and utter disaster. Either way, however, the outcome was bad. Unspeakably so.

She shivered, banishing the thought from her mind. That was the alternative, the plan B, and what she had to focus on was the actual plan. Antoine was right. If she kept focusing on it and believing it would happen will almost definitely make it happen.

Feeling more confident, Kate took a last look around the city before leaning back and falling backwards off the branch. She slowly levitated down to her balcony, and at last went inside, prepared for whatever tomorrow would bring, no matter if it was the best, or the worst.

 ***sighs again***

 **Now, I know it is very short. This story is meant to be short and quick, as it basically lays the foundations for the next two-four stories (yes, there's more...don't look at me like that)**

 **There's two chapters left I think, and I'm sorry if I'm rushing it too much but it's mainly because I think the next few stories will be pretty long-ish.**

 **Anyway, enough with my blabbering, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	5. Plan B

**Well...this chapter is...erm...interesting.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, Sonic and Co. is owned by Sonic Team SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

* * *

 ***The next day, around 2pm, King Frederick Airfield***

A small grin reached Sonic's lips as he saw the various shapes of the airships in the Egg Fleet become more distinct. His eyes then widened as he realised how many there was, and the size of them.

Despite this, he pushed himself off of the wall and sniggered to Tails.

"Look at him, showing off," he remarked cockily "it's like he's asking for a beat down,"

He finished his sentence by bringing his left fist into his palm, his grin growing wider.

Tails tore his head away from his work on the Tornado to stare at the oncoming fleet. Right now, he wasn't as easy going as Sonic was, but his spirits were up nonetheless.

"I know, right?" he responded shortly, a slight chuckle ending his words.

Sally, however, didn't find Sonic's laid back attitude funny or helpful.  
"I wish that you'd take this seriously, Sonic," she sighed disapprovingly.

Sonic ran a hand through his quills indifferently, not taking his eyes off of the approaching fleet.

"Trust me, Sal', I'm taking it seriously on the inside,"

A few more minutes passed in silence, with the only noise coming from Tails' work on the biplane and the not-so-distant rumbles of the airships. There was little sound coming from the city itself, as no one was outside. Everyone was waiting in their homes, watching the oncoming air fleet with anticipation. More time passed, with the three of them enjoying the peace whilst they had it. Sally couldn't help but shake her head slightly as the Death Egg drew ever closer, meaning that its sheer size was more easy to see.  
"Nine months, and we didn't know a thing..." she murmured.

Sonic jolted a little due to the break in the silence, as he had been lost in somesort of daze. After taking a moment to register what Sally had said, he shrugged and bit his lip, as he himself had been thinking about the exact same thing for at least a day or two. "He...er...must've built it underground..." he answered finally "kept it secret so we wouldn't interfere. Don't think I've ever known him to be so..." he thought for the right word "...crafty,"

The chipmunk sighed.  
"I know, not to this scale, anyway,"

More silence, but this time the engines were louder. How quickly had the fleet advanced whilst they were talking? It wasn't exactly a long conversation, but Eggman must be moving at full throttle to show off his power. This was alarming, sure, but Sonic had faced far worse. Prime example, it was only four months ago he had been battling a deranged half-god intent on fusing with Dark Gaia and destroying time and space. This? This was a cinch.

A sudden flash snapped Sonic out of his thoughts, making him jump, and Tails successfully managed to drop his wrench on his foot in surprise. As the flash subsided to reveal a figure, they heard an apologetic chuckle.  
"Woops. Sorry. Guessing you were all kind of in your own worlds?"

It was Kate, smiling at them almost mischeviously, holding one of the handheld monitors. Disgruntled, Tails retrieved the wrench from the ground and shook his foot, wincing slightly in pain.  
"A warning would have been nice," he grumbled, making Kate huff.

"Ah, yes. Next time, I'll try to clear my throat whilst teleporting," she retorted sarcastically before flopping down on the concrete "are we all good? Ready?" she glanced up at the Death Egg "what're we looking at? Ten minutes?"

Kate's good mood made Sonic widen his eyes. She wasn't very optimistic in normal circumstances, let alone this one. Seeing her like this undoubtedly raised his spirits.  
"You're in a good mood," he remarked, almost suspiciously "never really knew you to be so optimistic,"

Kate smiled.  
"I've got a good feeling about this," she said simply before speaking to the handheld "You there, Nicole? I think we've got about eight minutes-ish before he gets here,"

"At that speed, he'll be here in less than that. How are the upgrades coming, Tails?" said Nicole, her voice being projected from the monitor.

Tails grunted as he twisted the wrench round again.  
"I'm. Pretty much. Done." he panted before flipping down the panel he was working on "this should be able to get us there quick enough so Eggman doesn't have time to give us a welcome party,"

Sonic then jutted in, rolling his eyes in apparent boredom and annoyance.  
"And if Silver would stop being a slowpoke, we could get going right now and get this over with,"

Kate laughed as she pushed herself up with her hands. Dusting herself off, she picked up the handheld and stretched her legs.  
"I'm not sure if it's in Silver's nature to be fast. I'm guessing we'll just have to be patient," her smirk faded as her expression turned slightly grim "I mean, I know I'm in no rush to get up there,"

 ***Just under ten minutes later***

Kate shifted her grip on the handheld as the wind nearly blasted it out of her hand. She was speeding in the air alongside the Tornado, watching as the Death Egg and the rest of the Egg Fleet became bigger and bigger as they got closer and closer.

They were aiming for an entrance port in the lower half of the Death Egg, where Shadow was already waiting. According to Nicole's scans of the interior, it was close to the main control room of the World Robotisizer. Eggman already knew of their intentions, and he had already sent out multiple Egg Chasers to try and intercept them, but due to Kate and Silver already being in the air, they were dealt with quickly.

Despite the wind rushing past her, Kate was able to hear Tails through her earpiece, and she turned to look at the young fox piloting the plane. When she heard that the message wasn't intended for her, she stared forward again, but still listened.

"Judging by the interior scans, the entrance port is too small for the Tornado!" he yelled over the engines "I'll be able to fly in close enough for you and Sally to hop off, Sonic, but I can't land!"

Sonic gave a thumbs up in understanding, keeping one hand firmly gripped on the wing he was crouched on.

As they neared the entrance port, Kate and Silver sped ahead until they could see Shadow signalling them from inside, where they began to slow down so they could land smoothly.

As the blue-green shells that encased them disappeared, they both landed on the smooth metal, and Kate immediately widened her eyes at the wreckage.

"Someone's been busy," she remarked, briefly glancing at Shadow, as if she was hoping for a decent reply. Shadow however, just shrugged.

"Indeed,"

Kate rolled her eyes and her ears flattened. She turned to watch the Tornado's approach, muttering something intelligible.

Silver, who was completely oblivious, frowned, first at Shadow and then at Kate, wondering why they were acting so distant. Deciding that it was probably nothing, he ignored it and watched Tails pilot the Tornado inwards, so it's wing tipped towards them. Sally quickly leapt off, and Sonic slid down from the other wing. He then waved Tails off as the biplane flew back towards New Mobotropolis.

Sonic kicked a bit of Egg Pawn that was still remaining after Shadow's battle. He stared around, shaking his head in amazement.

"Man, Eggman really out did himself this time,"

Sally too was astounded by the incredibly advanced Death Egg.

"It must've been so difficult to stop himself from testing this place out. He had to keep it secret," she sighed, rubbing her forehead warily.

Growing a little impatient, Shadow jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

"Not to hurry you, but the Doctor already started the countdown. You have about thirty minutes, so I suggest you hurry," he interjected, his arms crossed grumpily.

Kate scowled as she briskly began to walk past him, stopping so she was at his side.

"You know, it would have been useful to hear that earlier," she snarled, barging past him.

Ignoring the stares from the others, Kate spoke to the handheld.

"Which way is it, Nicole?"

There was a pause, before Nicole answered.

"It's straight ahead, but on a lower deck," she said "it's not far, but I detect Robotnik's forces making their way here. We must hurry,"

Sally took over, desperation beginning to make its way into her tone.

"Right, Kate, you and Silver make your way down to the Robotisizer," she pointed to the set of stairs that lead downwards "we'll cover you here to make sure nothing follows you down,"

Multiple clunks following Sally's orders signified the arrival of a group of Egg Pawns, and Sonic waved Kate and Silver off towards the stairs.

"Go! Go! _Quick_!"

Silver dashed off first, followed by Kate. She turned back as Sonic called to her after landing from a homing attack.

"Oh! And good luck, Kate,"

Kate smiled briefly at Sonic before hastily joining Silver on the long set of stairs, leaving the others the battle the Egg Pawns. Bitterly, Shadow stared after Kate before joining in the fighting, wondering if he should have wished her luck, too.

 ***shortly***

Arriving at the foot of the stairs, the pair of Freedom Fighters cautiously scanned the area in front of them, and were surprised by the lack of...everything. Considering the Robotisizer was only a short way away from them, there was an alarming lack of security. There were no Egg Pawns to slow them down, and not one camera on the wall to catch them. Despite being grateful, they were also extremely suspicious.

"What's he playing at...?" Kate murmured, scared to raise her voice in case of any hidden security. Silver shrugged.

"No clue," he whispered back "has Nicole got anything?"

"Negative," the A.I said, just as confused as they were "I'm not picking up anything down here,"

Slightly reassured by this, Silver and Kate stepped out slowly, still not sure. When no alarms were set off their presence, they fully moved away from the stairs. Still, nothing happened. Eggman must have been arrogant enought to believe that no one would attempt to infiltrate this place. Kate smirked at the thought, finding his stupidity amusing.

Although, as soon as they began to advance down the corridor, multiple hidden hatches within the wall hissed open, and the pair were suddenly bombarded with dozens of lasers.

Almost immediately, a blue-green shield sprung up between Silver and Kate and the lasers, and Silver kept his arms elevated to keep up the shield . By instinct, Kate had crouched down, her hands over her head. Her sensitive ears twitched at the sound of the lasers smashing into the shield, and she groaned. Had the massive distraction back up at the entrance port not been enough? How did he know? There were no cameras! Nothing!

After around thirty seconds of being pelted by the lasers, the bombardment stopped, and Silver dropped his arms and with them dropped the shield.

Kate stood up straight, removing her arms from around her head and desperately looked around, her heart pounding out of her chest. After a moment, they both calmed down, and Kate laughed.  
"I-I think that was just automated," she stammered "I t-think he's too busy with the others to worry about us,"

There was a pause as they caught their breath, until a new voice jolted them back to reality. Once again, they panicked, but it turned out to be coming from a tanoy on the ceiling.

" **Robotisizer activation in T-minus twenty-five minutes. All troops, to stations,** "

With a quick look of alarm at each other, the two Freedom Fighters began to proceed through the corridor with more haste, being cautious if they should trigger anymore hidden security measures.

None came, however, and they easily made their way to the end of the corridor. They grinded to a halt at a very heavy looking door. There were no markings or words on it, but it was the only door they had seen.  
"Nicole?" Kate whispered, signalling to Silver to keep a lookout "is this it?"

"Yes, it is. The Robotisizer and its controls are through there,"

Kate nodded in understanding, and whatever good feeling she had managed to cling on to faded in an instant. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she turned to Silver, and gave him a weak smile.  
"Silver...go back to the others. They'll probably need your help,"

Just as she expected, Silver reacted badly, and he shook his head firmly.  
"Oh, no no no," he said, holding up his hands as if to hold her back "Kate, you can't go there on your own! What if Eggman sends-?"

Kate held up a hand to stop him, and he did so, but continued to grumble under his breath. Kate placed both of her hands on his shoulders.  
"I'm capable of taking care of a few rustbuckets, Silver," she reassured, despite being worried herself "I'll be fine,"

There was a short pause, before Kate planted a quick kiss on Silver's cheek, making the white hedgehog turn a light shade of pink. She stepped back and waved him off.  
"Go," she told him.

Silver, though still worried about Kate, obliged. However, Kate called him back.  
"I'll see you later, yeah?"

After a quick thumbs up, Silver was off back down the corridor, towards the stairs and the supposed battle being thought up above.

Turning away again, Kate drove her shoulder into the door and forced it open. It was surprisingly light, and swung open to reveal a huge, cavern-like room, similiar to what Kate remembered as Egg Cerberus' chamber in White Acropolis. Except this chamber had its huge shutter as a trapdoor on the floor, with a giant satellite dish hanging down from the ceiling, attached to a metal arm which would allow it to hang out of the trapdoor. The World Robotisizer.

She frowned at the continous lack of security. Why was he so carefree? Unless...unless he had something else protecting the Robotisizer.

Furrowing her brow, she produced an electric sphere in her hand, and launched it at the Robotisizer. However, she had to immediately duck as the sphere rebounded off of the dish, and began to bound off of all the walls in the chamber. Growling, she recalled the sphere and exstinguished it, straightening up.

"Magnetic shielding..." she muttered "...guess trying to destroy it won't work...Nicole, where's the control room?"

Nicole took a moment to respond, before she directed Kate to an area hidden behind the large dish. On the wall, was a small vent opening. Kate nodded and jogged over to it. Using her psychokinesis, she ripped the vent door off it's hinges, and proceeded to crawl inside. Not being a fan of small spaces, she cowered for a moment before edging her way forward.

The vent was only short, and she was out of it after about ten seconds. Although, the small room she emerged into wasn't much relief. It was tiny. Inside it, there was a desk with about three computer screens on it. Below the desk, were countless wires. They all led through a gaping hole behind the desk which probably led to the dish. On the middle screen, there were masses of code, on the screens either side of it, was the countdown: sixteen minutes and 56 seconds remaining.

In front of the desk, was a chair. It was small and, like the room and the vent, was way too small for Eggman. Kate sat down on the chair and thought for a second. What was Eggman's nephew called again? Snively or something? He was probably the one that had to squeeze in here.

Kate shook her head to make herself focus. She placed the handheld on the desk and got ready to type, ignoring the countdown next to her. She breathed deeply, her eyes widening at the amount of code.

"Alright, Nicole, here we go..." she murmured.

With that, she was off, furiously typing away. She cleared the first two defences in less than two minutes, and she grinned, not stopping for a second.

A sudden tremor shook the control room. A missile or something from the fight in the entrance port. She paused, partly out of fright and partly out of worry. Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth and began work on the third firewall. This one was considerably harder than the first two. However, she didn't allow herself to be deterred.

 **13 minutes, 43 seconds**

The glare from the screens in such a dark room had begun to give Kate a headache. On top of that, the firewalls were getting very difficult, and Kate was now typing with more vigour, almost slamming her hands down on the keyboard. No matter how much she tried to divert her eyes, she kept glancing at the blazing red countdown clock. Growling, she cleared the firewall, but there was another one for her to get through...

 **9 minutes, 24 seconds**

She was nearly there. She knew she was nearly there. She had fought her way through 5 defences now, and was halfway through the sixth one. Her heartrate was increasing, and she was trembling all over. This one seemed impossible. No matter what she tried, the complex coding kept shutting her out.

"No...no...come on...nearly there..."

The handheld was hooked up to the mainframe at this point, and Nicole was assisting in whatever way she could, but she could tell Kate was in trouble.  
"Kate...you have around eight minutes left..." she warned, making Kate let out a sound somewhere between a squeal and a snarl.

"I know that, Nicole! _I know that_!"

She was pratically pummelling the keyboard now in her desperation. She could do this, she had to...

 **5 minutes 48 seconds**

So close...she was so close, and she knew it.

Kate's gaze didn't once leave her work on the firewalls. This one was tricky. One false move, and it could put her back to square one, which would of course spell disaster. Small snarls began to escape her now, and she was unable to stop herself from trembling with rage. The last few lines of code...the last few.

She cleared the first one, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes...come on..."

Her adrenaline rose as she sped through the second line...almost there...cleared.

 **5 minutes 3 seconds**

The second to last line. She slowed down, allowing herself to concentrate. She couldn't mess this up. Not now. This was it.

"Yes! Yes! That's it!"

 **4 minutes 54 seconds**

She beamed as she finished counteracting the final line of code, then...

The screen went blank for a moment, and Kate froze. What happened? Did it work? When the screen flickered back on, her heart plummeted, and she was paralysed.

She had done it wrong. It had shut her out.

 **4 minutes 37 seconds**

She stared at the screen for a minute, her fried brain not taking anything in. The clock continued to tick away. Her hands slowly fell off the desk on to her lap, and she sat there, staring blankly at the screen.

Nicole didn't have an inkling what was going on, and found the sudden lack of typing worrying.  
"Kate? Kate! What happened? Did you do it?"

Kate shook her head, her ears drooping as the terrifying reality began to sink in.  
"No...no I didn't..."

She hadn't done it. It had shut her out. The timer was running too low. To attempt it again would be futile. There wasn't enough time.

She pressed a hand to her forehead, and her empty voice became filled with despair.  
"No...no..." she let out a furious snarl " _no...no...no...why! Damn you! Why_!" she gripped her ears, almost in a deranged way "No!"

Nicole was now matching Kate's furious tone.  
"Kate! Tell me! What's wrong?"

Angry with Nicole, with herself, with _everything_ , Kate snatched up the handheld, and saw Nicole's concerned face on the screen. After seeing her friend's worried look, she calmed herself down, and she felt her throat burning with tears.

 **4 minutes 2 seconds**

"It shut me out, Nicole. There's no time left," she closed her eyes as the first tear fell from her eye "it's time to go to plan B,"

* * *

 **Rushed, I know. I tried.**

 **Six times this has been rewritten. Six. Damn. Times and I honestly lost patience.**

 **OK!**

 **I hope you enjoyed nevertheless!**

 **R &R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	6. No Other Way

**Okay, so the reason this chapter is so short is because originally this chapter and the next was supposed to be one chapter, and I didn't want it all jumbled up.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Kate, Sonic and Co. belong to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 **2 minutes 40 seconds**

"Kate! Don't! There has to be another way to do this!"

"There isn't enough time, Nicole,"

Kate was typing slower now. It was much easier reprogramming the machine rather than shutting it down. Her hands moved on their own, as her brain was completely blank, blocking out the thoughts of what was to come. Despite the mental blockade shutting the thoughts out, she was trembling uncontrollably, and tears were streaming from her eyes.

All the while, Nicole was desperately trying to get Kate to stop, but with no prevail.

"There has to be something else. Anything!"

The ivory wolf shook her head as she pushed back the chair to duck under the desk. She began to disconnect the wires and reconnect them elsewhere.

"Of course there are other ways, Nicole!" she exclaimed "but they require time, which is something we are dangerously low on,"

The wires sparked as she reconnected them. Frowning, Kate stood up from under the desk to check if the screen had changed. When she saw it hadn't, she ducked back under the desk and switched the wires round again, flinching at the sparks, she stood up again. After seeing the change, she sat back in the chair and pulled it closer to the desk again. She continued to type, keeping a close eye on the timer.

 **1 minute 50 seconds**

As she finished her work, she spoke to Nicole. "Right...that should do it," she said, hitting the enter key once and sitting back.

Nicole tried one last time to reason with Kate.

"Kate...you won't be immune...all that energy...it'll kill you!"

Smiling sadly, Kate stared at the smooth metal of the desk, watching the seconds tick away out of the corner of her eye.

"I know that, Nicole," she said gently, giving a slight shiver "but as long as they live, as long as the world lives, it doesn't matter,"

She had been planning this from the start, as a last resort plan. She knew failing was a possibility, that she could run out of time. But as she watched the remaining seconds of her life tick away, she didn't think it was fair.

Why her? Why now? She had finally found a family again, and for the first time in a long time, she was completely content with her life. But now, she was about to lose it all, her friends, everything. She didn't want to die, in her mind, she didn't deserve it. She placed her head in her hands and began to tremble again.

"I don't want to go," she sobbed, clamping her hands round her mouth "it's not fair! I was so close...so close..."

She stared up at the timer with blurry eyes. Forty seconds...how did it go so quick?

Her breathing quickened, the feeling of nausea stronger than ever, crying non-stop.

"I don't want to go!"

Kate gripped the table, trying to compose herself. She slowed her breathing, swallowing the lump in her throat. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she took off her earpiece.

 **32, 31, 30...**

She began to think about her friends, her time as a Freedom Fighter. She couldn't deny it, being with them had given her the best times of her life, and she couldn't have asked for better. She smirked at the thought that she would prefer the pile of leaves with the fire ants over this...

 **25, 24, 23...**

Sonic's voice was heard through earpiece. He was asking her if she was okay. Clearing her throat, she leaned in to the earpiece, desperately trying to calm herself down.

"It's fine, Sonic," she replied quietly "you'll all be fine…I promise…"

There was a pause and then a crash on the other end. Evidently the battle was still raging.

"Okay-no problem, Ka-" Sonic stopped talking as he clocked on "wait…what do you mean, "you'll be safe"?"

 **18, 17, 16...**

Kate lost whatever calm composure she had managed to gather. She took hold of the earpiece, holding it flat in her palm. More sobs racked her body as Sonic became more desperate for an answer from her.

"I'm sorry…I really am sorry, Sonic," she said, her voice shaking.

"Kate! What about you? Kate! What are you-?"

The voice stopped abruptly, as Kate had crushed the brittle piece of equipment in her hand. She dumped the bits down on the desk.

 **12, 11, 10...**

As the timer whittled down to the last few seconds, Kate let out a growl and sat up straight, facing the screen with grim determination.

"Nicole, show them the video,"

"I will do, Kate," the A.I replied "goodbye, my friend,"

Kate let out a smile, which quickly turned into a grimace.

 **6, 5, 4...**

Kate's eyes widened as she held on to the happiest moment she could think of. Meeting Silver, being a Freedom Fighter, her friends…

"Here we go…" she murmured, taking her last breath.

 **3, 2, 1...**

 **Zero.**

There was a deafening rumble, shattering Kate's ears. Then she saw it: a blinding light, working it's way out of the tube in front of her. The light reached the room, engulfing her. She felt the force of a giant iron clad fist pummeling her in the stomach and then everything went black.

 **Well...erm...** **I have nothing to say on the subject!**

 **Er...**

 ** _Anyway_ , I hope you enjoyed, and sorry it's so short :D**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	7. The End of Her Days

**For some damn reason this was really hard to write. _Maybe it's time to stop..._**

 **Ha.**

 **That's not happenin'**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, Sonic and Co. belong to Sonic Team @SEGA.**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

Countdown: 25 seconds to go

"Kate? Are you okay? Is everything alright down there?"

Sonic had moved away from the main fight, avoiding the huge metal legs of the Egg Spider that Eggman was currently battling them in. All the while, the countdown had been ticking away, and could be faintly heard over the crashes and explosions. Sonic, along with the others, couldn't help but think that Kate was leaving this dangerously close for call.

It took a moment for Kate to respond. When she did, her tone sounded empty, and it quivered, like she was crying.

"It's fine, Sonic," she replied quietly "you'll all be fine…I promise…"

Sonic opened his mouth to reply, but stopped as one of the Egg Spider's arms shot out to try and squish him against the wall. After he landed, he spoke to Kate again.

"Okay-no problem, Ka-" Sonic stopped talking as he clocked on "wait…what do you mean, "you'll be safe"?"

The countdown was dangerously low now, with only a few seconds left. Over the line, he heard Kate lose her cool, and she had begun to cry.

"I'm sorry…I really am sorry, Sonic,"

Sonic lost it too. Shadow, who was nearby, looked over, confused and concerned. The blue hedgehog desperately yelled down the earpiece.

"Kate! What about you? Kate! What are you-?"

There was suddenly a loud crackle, and then static. Sonic flinched at the sudden noise, but quickly recovered. He yelled at the static, but obviously, he got no reply.

"Guys!" he yelled to the others, dragging their attention from the Egg Spider "Kate's up to something! We have to…I-I don't know what she's doing!"

At his words, Shadow suddenly lost his temper. Using a Chaos Spear, he flung aside an approaching Egg Pawn, snarling with a unusual fire in his voice.

"I don't have time for this!" he growled, storming towards the stairs leading towards the Robotisizer "I'm going to-"

As he reached the top of the stairs, however, he was stopped in both his tracks and his words, by the end of the countdown.

The rumble sounded distant, but they all heard it. Even Eggman stopped his bombardment to laugh in triumph.

"Just as predicted! This the end of you, you moronic hedgehog!"

What happened next, however, made him fall silent in pure shock.

The rumbling got louder, shaking the floor they were stood on. After a couple of seconds, Shadow, who was staring down the stairs in confusion, saw a billowing cloud of smoke, and saw rubble crumbling down from the ceiling above him. Widening his eyes slightly he waved to the others, moving back as he did so.

"Move," he snapped at them "move!"

Sonic and Sally, who were the closest to the stairs, leapt away in time, but only just. The blast knocked them to the ground, and Sonic put an arm over Sally protectively.

Explosions rocked the floor, and it took a short while for them to subside. The ceiling stayed intact, and little rubble fell on them. What in the name of Chaos had happened down there?

When the tremors finally died down, Sonic staggered to his feet. The arm that was already wrapped around Sally helped her up. Shadow was also rising off the metal, and a bit further away, Silver was trying to regain his balance.

Flung aside by the explosion, the Egg Spider lay wrecked atop of a pile of crushed Egg Pawns. Crawling out of it, coughing and incredibly dishevelled, was Eggman. He fell out of the robot, shaking his head and groaning.

"Grrrr! Confound you miserable rats! I was certain this would work!" he spluttered, slamming his fist on the floor as if he was a tantruming child. The others completely ignored him.

Shadow was pelting the rubble that had covered the top of the stairs with his Chaos Spears, desperate to clear a path. Silver was carefully shifting the chunks of metal and machinery, making sure not to make it worse. Sonic and Sally were frantically trying to get a response from Kate or Nicole, but with no success.

"There's no reply…" Sally murmured before looking up at Silver "are you able to clear any of it?"

The ivory hedgehog pressed a hand to his forehead, his voice rising as he grew more anxious and upset.

"It's too unstable!" he called back to them, his tone higher than usual "have you got anything?"

Sonic shook his head, fearing the worst.

"No…no! There's nothing!" he swallowed the lump in his throat before trying again "Kate? Nicole? Anyone?"

Needing to calm down for a moment, Silver walked away from his part of the rubble, gripping his quills and groaning. Shadow continued to relentlessly yank away rubble, causing bits of it to crumble. Suddenly, he punched the pile in rage, calling out Kate's name.

Eggman, meanwhile, was very interested in the disappearance of Kate, and watched the anxious states of the Freedom Fighters with amusement.

"What's this? So the little puppy is lost?" he chuckled nastily "she's probably dead under all that mess-"

Shadow, enraged, began to storm towards Eggman, his fist raised and with a tiny glint of madness in his eye.

"One more word from you, and I swear-!"

A certain blue blur managed to stop Shadow just as the ebony hedgehog was about to bring his fist crashing down onto Eggman's face. Sonic pushed him back, struggling against Shadow's anger-fueled frenzy.

"Woah! W-woah!" he stammered in alarm "look, we don't need things to escalate, alright? Just…take it easy…"

Sally and Silver rushed over to help handle Shadow, and whilst they were all preoccupied trying to calm him down, none of them noticed a gloved hand emerging from under the rubble, followed by a golden cuff and a dark blue sleeve. The hand gripped onto the loose metal, making bits of it tumble and clatter to the floor.

The noise of the falling rubble made the group across the room jump at the new noise. Looking over Shadow's shoulder, Sonic saw the hand under the flickering light, and a wide smile broke out onto his face. He furiously tapped Shadow on the shoulder, telling him to turn round before rushing off to where the hand was, laughing hysterically in relief.

"Kate! Are you alright?" he called. There was no reply, so Sonic waved Shadow and Silver over "guys! Gimme a hand here!"

The two hedgehogs nodded and rushed over, equally as elated as Sonic. Sally, however, hung back, as she had noticed something that the hedgehogs had not. She approached the pile slowly, her tone empty and her voice shaking. Her head moved from side to side, not wanting to believe what she was seeing.

"Sonic…that's not Kate..." she muttered. Sonic stopped and turned around, scowling.

"What d'you mean?" he snapped. Sally seemed on the verge of tears.

"Look at her hand, Sonic," she said quietly.

Sonic furrowed his brow, and turned around. At the exact same time as Sally had spoken those words, Silver had stepped back, his voice full of horror.

"Sonic…her hand…"

The cobalt hedgehog's brow furrowed and he turned around to look at Kate's arm, which was now joined by the other arm. After a closer inspection, his heart fell, and he went numb all over. Behind them, Eggman began to laugh evilly as he too saw it.

It wasn't a glove. It was a claw.

A metal claw.

No. She couldn't be…

Sonic stepped away as the head of the robot under the rubble fully emerged. The claw like hands got a better grip on the unstable metal, and Kate hoisted herself out.

The metal wolf stumbled down the rubble, and straightened up in front of the Freedom Fighters. The whites of her eyes were now black, and her eyes were no longer the gentle, kind blue. They were robotic and empty, like everything she was had been sucked out of her.

It didn't move, it just stared at them. Sonic stepped forward, holding out an arm to keep the others back. He advanced on Kate, speaking quietly, gently.

"Kate?" he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking "are you in there, Kate?"

Mecha Kate did nothing, but continued to stare at Sonic, as though curious.

Then, there was a mechanical growl, and she raised her hand, which began to glow. Sonic scrambled backwards, pushing the others back as he did so.

"No! No! Not again!" he pleaded "please, no!"

The four of them dived out of the way as a bright beam fired from the robot's hand, aiming at Sonic. The blue hedgehog looked over at Sally, who had already pressed the button on her earpiece.

"Tails! We need you here! _Now_!" she screamed, jumping over another beam.

"Got it. On my way," came the reply.

Shadow watched the robot form of his sister, trying to accept what had happened. As it sank in, his temper rose, rising to the point where it felt like lava in his veins. Seeing a certain scientist cackling across the room only fueled his anger. His hands crackled with chaos energy and he moved in a hypnotic trance. Eggman didn't notice him. When he did, he stopped laughing, and desperately tried to scramble away from the enraged hedgehog.

"N-now S-shadow…" he stammered "like Sonic said! N-no need to let this get out of hand,"

Shadow wasn't listening, and he raised his hand, ready to strike. He let out a snarl through gritted teeth.

" _Bring. Her. Back_ ,"

The Spear shot out of his hand, missing Eggman by inches. Despite missing, he didn't stop, and was too caught up in pure mourning to aim properly.

"Bring her back! _Bring her back right now_!"

He fired again before stopping and stumbling back as he grew dizzy.

"Bring her back..."

The sound of plane engines and Sonic's shouts broke him out of his daze. He looked up to see Tails approaching in the Tornado, and Sonic calling him whilst locked in combat with Kate.

"Shadow! Shadow! We gotta get outta here, dude!"

Snapping back to reality, Shadow blasted the mech wrestling with Sonic to let the blue hedgehog leap on the nearing biplane. After a final look at robot wolf, with her white and cyan metal and empty eyes, before jumping out onto the wing of the Tornado, unable to get the image of a robotisized Kate out of his mind.

 **Well. Um...**

 **Once again, this and the next chapter were supposed to be one big one so once again that's the reason it's pretty short.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	8. The Message

**Phew, this took a while. Sorry this took so long. I rewrote it quite a few times and I've been bingewatching Marvel for the past few weeks :D**

 **Disclaimer: I own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***One week later, 23:34pm, Freedom Fighter HQ***

Silver rested his elbows on the console as he watched the monitor screen warily. It was simple restlessness that had kept him up. With no one up as late as him, he had decided to make a late night call to Professor Von Shlemmer. He wasn't used to being up on his own, as on these kind of sleepless nights Kate was usually up as well.

His mood picked up as the handheld that Von Shlemmer had given him finally connected and the image had appeared onscreen. He straightened up, and frowned briefly in confusion as it was Gold who answered.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise "hello, Silver,"

Silver smiled, happy to see his friend.

"Long time, no see, Gold. I didn't see you on the last call," he replied.

Gold sat back on the small wooden chair she was seated in, her hands clasped on her lap.

"I was getting used to being in the city again. It's been a while," she told him "anyway, what can we do for you?"

Silver shivered at the thought, but kept his composure. "Is the Professor there? I'd er...I'd like to speak to him, too..."

Gold nodded, not sure as to why Silver was so low. Assuring him that she would be right back, she left the view of the camera. A moment or so passed before Gold returned with the professor, who was as enthusiastic as ever.

"Vell Silver! Zhis is unexpected! It must be very late in that time!" he said in shock.

Silver shrugged, not actually knowing what time it was.

"Yeah…it's pretty late," he sighed "I couldn't sleep,"

Von Shlemmer pulled a look of concern, realising that something was troubling Silver.

"Is zhere something wrong?" he asked "you seem to be lacking your usual verve, I must say,"

Taking a deep breath, the ivory hedgehog decided to get straight to the point, not wanting to repeat what happened on the Death Egg.

"Kate's gone," he said simply, looking away from the screen "she…she died last week…well, she's not dead…just gone…"

He looked back up, to find his two friends looking at him in pity. Gold seemed confused, but the professor's eyes glinted in recognition.

"Oh…ze poor dear…" he sighed, taking off his glasses and wiping them clean on his sleeve. Replacing them, he sat back almost thoughtfully "ze poor, poor dear. She vas ever so sweet, too,"

Gold piped up.

"What do you mean "she's not dead, just gone"?" she asked, careful not to say anything to upset Silver.

Silver fiddled with the controls on the monitor for a second before replying.

"Kate was in charge of shutting down the Robotisizer…instead she…she…I don't know, but whatever she did it transformed her into a machine," his hand shook as he pressed it to his forehead "she's gone,"

As he finished the explanation, Von Shlemmer's expression turned deadly serious, and he shook his head in contempt.

"I've heard rumours of a machine like zhat. I never thought zhey vere true," he muttered "never thought someone vould make such a thing,"

Silver bit his lip, realising he had made the professor unusually subdued and Gold confused and worried. He himself was trembling uncontrollably, and had begun to feel sick. Trying his best to lighten up, he stood up straight and stared at the screen, forcing the image of the robot wolf out of his mind.

"Anyway," he said suddenly, making Von Shlemmer's head snap up "how've things been with you?"

 ***around two hours later***

"Silver,"

"What…no…leave me alone…"

"Silver, wake up,"

Grumbling, Silver's gold eyes flitted into view, and he nearly had a heart attack at the figure stood over him.

Yelling out in surprise, he tried to scramble away, only to succeed in rolling off the sofa and landing awkwardly and painfully on the floor. His eyes squinted as they burned from the glare of the light, and he blinked furiously to get adjusted to the brightness.

Groaning, he rose to his feet, incredibly peeved. He turned round to see who had woken him. After a few more blinks, he was able to make out a familiar face.

"Oh…it's you, Nicole," he murmured sleepily "you nearly made me jump out of my fur,"

Nicole shrunk back apologetically.

"Sorry. I wasn't entirely sure you were going to wake up,"

Silver waved off her apology and stretched, yawning loudly.

"How long was I asleep?"

The holo-lynx began to walk back to the monitor.

"Not long, just over an hour. But I thought that you'd be much more comfortable in your own bed,"

Nodding, Silver made his way to the door, not realising that Nicole had begun to stare at him oddly, as though she was in deep consideration. She had not shown anyone the video Kate had recorded yet, guilty about not telling anyone Kate's plans, despite the wolf trying to persuade her not to be.

Although, seeing Silver so upset encouraged her, and she called him back.

He turned, looking at her with tired eyes.

"Yeah?"

Nicole faced him fully, adopting a serious tone.

"Silver, there's something you need to see,"

Silver groaned, opening the door, ready to leave.

"Nicole, it's late. Maybe later-"

"No, Silver. You need to see this now,"

Shocked by her sudden sincerity, Silver shut the door softly, and made his way back over to the sofa and sat down where he had been sleeping, raising his eyebrow at Nicole, sceptical.

With a slight hiss, Nicole faded away and the screen switched on. Silver stared at it, clearly uninterested. That is, however, until Nicole opened up a video file.

It was a view of the sofa Silver was seated on now, but it was clearly in the daytime. He leant forward slightly in curiosity. Although, when an incredibly familiar person appeared on the screen and sat down, he leapt up, his heart racing.

On the video, Kate had sat down on the sofa and had directed her view towards the camera, her hands clasped together seriously. There was silence for a moment before she began to speak.

"If you're watching this, then Nicole has fulfilled her promise to me, and it means that I'm…" she trailed off, pulling at the collar of her jacket nervously.

She cleared her throat before continuing.

"Anyway…it failed. Now, obviously I don't know what happened, whether all my plans failed or a simply ran out of time. Either way, I've ended up having to reprogramme the machine to fire out the back end. This…this is a huge amount of energy, so I am…I am dead,"

She suppressed a shiver before she continued.

"And I know this is going a bit quick. I mean, it's only been about ten minutes since we finished the plans. But…I know that there is a chance that things could go wrong," she sighed "and I'm sorry. Truly I am. Especially to those that have had this happen to then for a second time, but there is only one way of destroying the thing that will work for definite,"

Silver was now right in front of the screen, hanging on to her every word.

"OK, so, firstly, I don't want any of you to blame Nicole for this. It was my decision, and my decision alone. It was my wish that it should be kept secret, as I know you will try to stop me if you find out. And if it should come to the last resort, then you trying to stop me would be a problem,"

Kate's calm composure had began to falter, and her voice began to catch in her throat.

"Second…I…er…just wanted to say something that I never had the decency to tell you," she paused, glancing briefly at the floor "you're all brilliant. You're all so amazing in your own way and much more so than I ever gave you credit for," she gave a small chuckle "and I couldn't have hoped for better,"

There it was. All composure lost. Kate wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her jacket and took a deep breath to calm herself. A few moments passed where she was incredibly restless. Silver frowned, wondering why the video was still going. That is, however, until Kate suddenly remembered something, and adopted a serious look.

"Oh! And one more thing," she leant forward, looking at the camera almost sternly "there's a small chance, around ten percent at the max, that the energy re-routed into me will…robotisize me," she swallowed before carrying on "if that's the scenario you find yourselves in as you watch this, then I want you to listen to the next instruction carefully,"

Silver paid rapt attention, hoping for a way to restore his friend. What she said next, however, made his heart drop even further.

"Do not hesitate in attacking me," she said firmly "or, if need be, destroying me…because I won't hesitate to destroy you,"

It was nearing the end of the message, and Silver turned away to sit back down. Although, Kate apparently had something else to say, making Silver snap his head back round quickly to see.

"Oh, and thank you," she said, tears quickly falling from her eyes "thank you all, for everything that you were to me,"

She walked away from the view of the camera, and the video ended. Silver didn't move from where he stood, completely numb. It took him a while to get any sort of coherent thought in his head. By the time this happened, Nicole had already reappeared in her holographic form, and she seemed worried at his vacant expression.

"Silver?" she asked cautiously. Gold eyes moved up to look at the holo-lynx, and they seemed empty.

"Why just me?" he asked quietly "why have you only just shown me this now?"

Nicole wouldn't look at him.

"Kate told me to wait. She didn't want anything to get out of hand," she replied calmly.

Silver slumped down on the sofa, head in hands, and feeling much worse than he did before. He was annoyed at Nicole for keeping it a secret, but was then annoyed at Kate for not telling anyone. He knew he shouldn't, but he could feel his temper rising.

He stood up suddenly, pointing at Nicole.

"Well you've waited long enough. First thing tomorrow, you're showing this to the others,"

Then he stormed out without another word.

 ***The next day, 10:24am***

"Why didn't you tell us about this?"

Nicole cowered slightly under the glare of the furious blue hedgehog. Having a much shorter temper than the other Freedom Fighters, he had reacted the worst to the message.

The holo-lynx recovered and stood her ground firmly.

"I promised her, Sonic. For all I knew that could have been her last request of me,"

"Nicole, we could've done something if you just told us sooner!"

"Enough. Were you listening to that video at all, Faker?"

Having heard enough, Shadow had stepped forward from his spot at the back of the room. Sonic raised his brow and snapped.

"Yeah, I heard it, but-!"

Shadow cut across him.

"But nothing. You just heard Kate say not to take it out on the A.I, so stop it,"

Green eyes met red, and the two rivals stared it out for a minute before Sonic calmed down but by no means had he finished his questioning.

"What actually happened down there, Nicole?

The A.I hesitated before telling them sadly.

"She got very close to breaking through, but the last line…she did something wrong, and it shut her out," she explained "there was no time to try anything else,"

Nodding in understanding, Sonic stepped away, letting out a deep sigh. No one else spoke. Sally didn't meet anyone's eye, knowing it was partly her fault that Kate got the idea.

Shadow, meanwhile, felt a small weight lift off his chest. Ever since he saw Kate clamber out of the wreckage as a robot, he couldn't help thinking that it was their argument and the things he said that had led her to do that. But from what Nicole had just said, he gathered that it wasn't his fault. Although, he couldn't stop thinking about the things he had said to her.

Not saying a word, he disappeared in a flash of green light, frightening those stood around him. Nobody questioned it, but also decided to leave the solemn atmosphere as soon as they could.

Tails was the first to leave, saying he had repairs to make on the Tornado. Next was Sally, then Bunnie and Antoine. Very soon, it was just Silver, Sonic and Nicole.

Although, it wasn't long until the A.I disappeared.

"If you two wouldn't mind, I have some diagnostics I need to run,"

Sonic nodded, and gestured to Silver to follow him. The two hedgehogs exited the HQ in silence.

The sky was bright and clear, and was a brilliant blue. The Egg Fleet had left merely hours after the Robotisizer had exploded, presumably so Eggman could quickly get to work on his new robot.

They stopped a short distance away from the HQ, not entirely sure where they were planning on going.

After a minute or so of them both being in deep thought, Sonic spoke.

"You alright?" he asked casually. Silver nodded.

"Yeah…I'll get past it eventually…I think we all will," he replied.

Sonic let out a small groan, and rubbed his palm against his forehead.

"Never thought this would happen again," he exhaled, sounding exhausted.

Silver frowned before Sonic continued.

"Still, a crazy miracle brought Sally back the last time," he said, a little more brightly "maybe one will bring Kate back,"

Silver smirked as Sonic began to walk away.

"Heh, maybe," he chuckled "I'll see you later,"

Sonic returned his friend's smile before speeding off towards New Mobotropolis.

When he was gone, Silver looked up in the direction that the Egg Fleet had been last week. His smirk softened to a smile as he thought that maybe, Sonic was right. How he would get her back, he didn't know. But maybe, just maybe, Sonic was right.

 **Alright so this story is nearly done. I think that the next chapter is the last one (no promises)**

 **Anywho, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	9. I'm Still Here

**Alright! Last chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I only own erm...Metal Kate I guess. The others belong to Sonic Team SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***Dr Eggman's base, Metropolis***

Doctor Eggman sat back as he watched the many mechanical arms work on the metal wolf with a sense of pride. Unlike most of his other mechs, he was planning to use this one quite often, and he needed it to be in top condition. He had lost his Roboticizer, but he had gained something even better.

Sneering at the dimly lit figure of the white and cyan mech, he stood up, and began to pace around it.

"Look at you," he began coldly "three years it took for you to escape, and here you are, back under my hold once again," he paused and chuckled "oh, how ironic fate can be, hm?"

The robot paid no attention, which spurred Eggman to carry on.

"A true pity, that you wanted to protect your friends so badly, and now, well, you'll probably end up killing them anyway,"

He waved at the mechanical arms to stop work for a moment. He came to a stop in front of the mech and crouched down. For the first time, the robot looked at him with its cruel blue eyes. Eggman smirked.

"You were so loyal to your friends, weren't you?"

The robot didn't reply. Eggman continued.

"Tell me, where do your loyalties lie now?"

He smirk grew wider as the robot appeared to scan him quizzically.

" **With you, Doctor,** "

Satisfied with the robot's response, he straightened up and left the laboratory, gesturing to the mechanical arms to continue their work. As he left, he began to think about where his first target should be, and how to break the Freedom Fighters.

 ***Flashback: one week previously*** *

It was the images of a bright light and a huge explosion that had woke her up, trembling and breathless. She looked around, confused. She was back in her own bed in her own home, completely safe. When she listened, there was no rumble of engines in the distance. Was it all just a dream?

Sitting up with a groan, Kate swivelled round so she was sat on the edge of the bed. She stretched to relieve the stiffness in her joints before trying to think back to her dream. The more she thought about it, however, the more it slipped away until she could barely remember it at all. The only thing she could remember about it was the fear.

She rose slowly, and walked over to the table to retrieve her jacket, which had carelessly been slung over a chair. As she zipped it up, she stepped outside onto the small balcony and looked out across the city.

It was very cold today, and the sky was a stormy grey. She rubbed her arms as the cold began to get to her and shivered, her breath rising in mists before her. It must have been early. Very early, as Mobotropolis seemed completely deserted. Now too awake to try and go back to sleep, Kate decided to go to the HQ and wait for someone to appear. She decided to walk. Maybe someone was already up in the city and she could talk to them for a while.

She made it down the stairs quickly, wanting to warm herself up. She adopted a brisk pace as she made her way towards the main gates. As she walked, she found the silence very eerie, and picked up her pace, eager to get away from it. Something was "off" today, though she just couldn't place it.

Kate made it to the gates without meeting anyone along the way, which was unusual. Although, as she jogged the rest of the way to the headquarters, she didn't question it.

She was frozen to the bone by the time she reached the door of the HQ, and was deeply regretting her decision to walk. She listened carefully, and could make out muffled voices. Smiling slightly, she unlocked the door and walked in, expecting a greeting from whoever was inside.

However, no such greeting came, and she was met with an empty room.

Stepping in and shutting the door behind her, she listened again. She still heard voices, and judged them to be coming from behind the closed door to the lab.

As she moved further in, the sense of eerieness became stronger, and Kate began to feel more uneasy by the second.

"Hello?" she said loudly "anyone?"

Beginning to think she really needed to get more sleep, Kate pushed open the door to the lab, once again expecting to see Tails or Sally or someone.

Still, there was no one. Kate scowled.

"Yeah…real funny guys…" she muttered darkly, turning around.

Facing the rest of the HQ, she immediately realised something was wrong. The monitor screen had switched on, but was full of static, which was odd. If there was ever any kind of fault, Nicole would always patch it up. Another thing that was wrong was that there was no longer any daylight pouring through the curtains.

Her breathing quickened as her vision warped and a piercing pain shot through her head. She yelled out in pain, falling backwards onto the sofa. She needed to leave. Right now. She could barely see, her eyes blinded by the pain in her head. She managed to stand up, only to collapse on the ground, clutching her head. She waited for it to subside.

Calm down. That's what she needed to do. Just calm down. She slowed her breathing, and the pain soon turned into a dull ache, and she was able open her eyes. Weak and shaky, Kate was barely able to stand up, and she fell forwards, clutching the monitor for support.

"N-nicole," she spluttered, her voice hoarse "I need h-help! Where are you?"

She hit the monitor in annoyance, and jumped back as the static stopped abruptly, and the screen turned dark. The voices were louder now, and she could make out what they were saying.

"No…no! Theres nothing!" that was Sonic "Kate? Nicole? Anyone?"

Kate had no idea what was going on, and she began to randomly press buttons on the control panel.

"Sonic!" she yelled at the screen "I'm here! I don't know…I don't know what's happening!"

He didn't appear to hear her. She listened again, and heard Shadow calling her name. She also heard Eggman speaking, but he seemed to be further away, and she couldn't hear his words. Although, she did hear Shadow's response.

"One more word from you, and I swear-!"

There was protest at his words, and Kate heard Sonic again.

"Woah! W-woah!" he stammered in alarm "look, we don't need things to escalate, alright? Just…take it easy…"

As Kate desperately tried to piece together what was going on, something happened on the screen. Light suddenly pierced the darkness, and Kate was able to see that the view was from under a pile of rubble. She saw a hand -her hand- shoot through the rubble and grip the top of it, knocking pieces of metal off as it did so. But her hand looked different, more claw like.

Then it hit her. The Robotisizer, the Death Egg, all of it…that was reality.

This was the dream.

It was her. The view on the screen…that was her eyes seeing that. She hadn't died like she thought she would. She was one of them. One of Eggman's soldiers. She heard someone run over, and began screaming at the screen.

"No…no!" she cried "no! _Please no!_ "

The pounding in her head returned as more rubble began to clear from above, and she heard the words of confirmation from Sally.

"Sonic…that's not Kate…"

Clearly Sonic didn't believe her.

"What d'you mean?"

Kate yelled as she saw the blue hedgehog come into view.

"My hand, Sonic! Look! _Run!_ " she yelled, doing everything in her power to try and stop the robot advancing.

Sally continued.

"Look at her hand, Sonic,"

Kate heard Silver, his voice full of horror, and she shook her head in denial.

"No…not you...I don't want you hurt! Please go now!"

"Sonic…her hand…"

Eggman had begun to laugh, and Kate watched on in fear as she saw herself fully emerge out of the rubble. As the robot stumbled down the pile of rubble, Kate's cries turned into snarls and growls as she tried to stop the robot advancing any further.

"No! Don't you dare attack them! _Don't you dare!_ "

Something happened. She didn't know what, or how, but the robot stopped in front of her friends, and seemed to be frozen in place.

Kate saw Sonic step forward, and hoped that there was a way to let him know she was there.

"Kate?" he asked shakily, looking at her warily "are you in there, Kate?"

Kate's heart lifted.

"Yes! I'm here! Sonic! I'm here!" she cried, slamming her fists against the screen "please! _I'm here!_ "

It didn't work. She watched on in horror as the arm lifted again, this time aiming at Sonic. The group stumbled back as Sonic continued to try and reason with the robot.

"No! No! Not again!" he pleaded "please, no!"

Too late. A bright white beam shot out towards Sonic, and it missed him by inches. Kate desperately tried to change her aim, but with each step her metal form took, the weaker Kate became.

The ivory wolf staggered towards the door, barely managing to keep herself up as the room warped around her. She blinked furiously as she began to see three doors instead of one, and yanked it open. Behind it, was stone, and she pummelled it with whatever strength she had left as she listened to the yells of alarm from her friends.

Her vision began to turn dark, and she fell to her knees finding it harder to breath.

"P-please," she choked "I'm h-h-here,"

She took a long raspy breath before falling on her stomach. She watched as the world around her seemed to crumble away.

" _I'm_ … _still_ … _here_ …"

There was a loud ringing in her ears and then everything went dark.

 **The end!**

 **Phew, for some stupid reason this one took quite a while to write :D**

 **Anyway, I truly hope you enjoyed "The End of Days"!**

 **See you on the next one!**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


End file.
